The court was hearing a plea by Human Rights Awareness Association, a Punjab-based NGO, to stop the film from being screened. The vacation bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice L. Nageshwara Rao presided over the plea.

Senior Counsel Meenakshi Arora, appeared for Phantom Films, in the court.

The film focuses on the rampant drug abuse problem in Punjab and has been in the vortex of controversy for the past few weeks. While the CBFC choked the film by recommending 89 cuts, including removal of all mention of the word "Punjab" from the scenes as well as the title of the film, the Bombay High Court cleared the film on June 13 with just one cut, after the producers moved the court against the CBFC recommendations.

A large section of the film fraternity has asked for the removal of CBFC chairman Pahlaj Nihalani who is allegedly acting in interest of the SAD-BJP government in Punjab. Interestingly, after the High Court decision, Nihalani called the HC verdict a "victory of democracy".

However, the NGO moved the Supreme Court to put a stay order on the film's release on Wednesday (June 15), which the apex court refused to do.

The film starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh is set to release countrywide in over 2,000 screens this Friday.